Founder Elizabeth Lumpkin has a message for diners after she sold the popular Boss Hawg’s barbecue restaurant to Topeka native Sarah Burtch: Don’t panic.

The recipes for the most popular dishes went with the restaurant, so customers can continue to enjoy the food that made this Topeka’s Best of Barbecue restaurant for years.

Lumpkin said: “I’ve been telling people, ‘Why would you buy a successful business and then change it?’ I feel extremely lucky to find such a talented person to take over.”

Burtch agreed.

“The recipes work, so I don’t want to change that,” Burtch said. “I do plan to add some new fresh items on the menu and expand the salad offerings. I know we’ve been horrifying vegetarians for years, but they have to eat, too. And I want to give the guys in the back a chance to show things off, too, by letting them create some new dishes. Eventually I want to get into the kitchen and create our own house-made desserts.”

Burtch returned to Topeka after years of seasonal cooking and restaurant management work in such places as Alaska, Florida and Wyoming. The Topeka High School and University of Kansas graduate got her culinary training at the Texas Culinary Academy in Austin. Before coming home, she spent two years as general manager for the Pahaska Tepee Resort’s restaurants in Cody, Wyo. (Buffalo Bill’s original hunting lodge).

“I had been doing seasonal work for years and hadn’t spent a holiday with my family for a long time,” Burtch said. “I wanted to be home for Christmas. And then I just stayed.”

Burtch spent the past year working as an assistant manager of a clothing store while she and her mom looked into opening a restaurant. Then one of mother’s friends told her that Lumpkin was looking to retire and sell Boss Hawg’s.

“Elizabeth and I met on a Friday afternoon and talked for four hours,” Burtch said. “Then on Monday, which happened to be my birthday, we sat down with our attorneys and signed the papers.” And then she added, with a smile, “I got a barbecue restaurant for my birthday.”

While menu favorites will stay the same, customers will begin to notice some changes in the next few months. Burtch plans to spruce-up the paint and upholstery throughout the restaurant and hopes to install new televisions in the bar area in the future. A website redesign is already in the works, and there are plans for new menus, with separate ones for lunch, dinner and dessert, plus a late-night bar menu.

“I would like customers to walk away feeling better than when they came in,” Burtch said. “And there’s nothing better than a great meal to lift your spirits.”

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The food has definitely gone down hill the past few years. The prices are too high for what you get. This place used to be top of the list for BBQ but not any longer. Lonnie's BBQ is way, way better but unfortunately their hours are not too customer friendly.

How much did she pay for it? I think it is a cool place and used to have really good food. I was in there in the last month and the whiskey tango waitress was pretty rude about her own restaurant. The food wasn't too bad but wasn't as good as it used to be. I hope she is successful and a few changes should be nice. It beats the heck out of the cookie cutters out on Wannamaker and could get back to top notch with a little effort.